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Nature's World in Acklam is at the forefront of green thinking, as Stuart Goldie explained.

He said: "We took over a derelict site which was originally part of a farm, and there wasn't a single tree on the whole site.

Nature's World can help you recycle

"Since then, we've built up an environmental demonstration centre and we're at the stage now when there's a pretty complete story from simple things like composting right through to hi-tech stuff like geo-thermal technology and how to tackle climate change.

"Teesside is one of the few areas that still produce things so we often get blamed for creating a certain amount of pollution, but I think people here are very much into the environment and keen to see how they can make a difference.

"On site, we have artist's studios and we work with people with special needs.

"They work in our horticultural unit, where they get involved with hands-on activities - a couple of the group manage our recycling area, and the others maintain gardens and help with general maintenance around the site.

"They're an important part of what we're doing.

"The key thing is that people can understand and see that there are lots of simple things they can do in their daily life to make a difference.

"Things like recycling and composting garden waste really help, but hopefully we also make them think about the future; what's going to happen when energy prices go through the roof so they can get ideas on wind and solar power and geo-thermal energy.

"These are realistic things that will happen in people's homes in the future, so we're giving people a glimpse of the future that's easy to understand so they feel they can get involved and make a difference".